The Blanket Fort
by purplerayz
Summary: Charlie accidentally discovers Danno's fear of small spaces.


"Charlie!"

Charlie can't help but giggle as he runs out of Gracie's room. His mission is not quite as easy as he thought, and he nearly trips over his prize as part of it drags on the ground in front of him. He smiles anyway, and when he finally reaches the living room, he turns and waits, but apparently his sister is not annoyed enough to chase after him.

He takes the stolen item, the blanket from Gracie's bed, and does his best to throw it over the living room furniture. It's still not enough, though. He needs another blanket to build his fort, make it complete, and he knows just the one.

He sneaks over to peer around into the next room. He needs to make sure Danno is not in his bedroom. He grins when he sees Danno hasn't moved and is still sitting at the kitchen table working on his laptop. He looks tired, like he needs a nap. He looks like how Charlie feels when he needs sleep but refuses to admit it.

Danno doesn't look up, but he smirks, and Charlie knows he's been made. He takes off down the hall, again checking to see if he's been followed. Seeing the hall remain empty, he darts into Danno's bedroom and begins the difficult task of removing the large blanket from the bed. It's bigger than Gracie's, and he ends up dragging the entire thing instead of carrying it down the hall. He sets to work again and does his best to finish his fort, adjusting and readjusting until he deems it perfect.

He admires his masterpiece for a moment before lifting the edge of a blanket, crawling inside. It's a lot smaller on the inside than it looks like from outside, but he's still pleased with his work anyway. Now he just needs to show it off.

He backs out of the fort and heads back into the kitchen. He hesitates, though, unsure of whether or not he should interrupt Danno from his work. But his hesitation disappears as soon as Danno looks up and smiles.

"Come see my fort, Danno!" Charlie urges excitedly. He grabs Danno's hand and pulls. He's met with resistance, and thinks maybe he shouldn't have bothered Danno, but quickly realizes he's purposely being forced to pull harder. Danno wasn't mad or annoyed, he was just being silly, refusing to budge an inch without making Charlie work for it.

"Danno..." Charlie wines, but he's smiling, too, as he continues to pull, grunting and giggling at the same time. "Come on!"

"Okay, buddy," Danno laughs.

Danno finally stops being silly and gets up from the chair, and Charlie doesn't let go of his hand as he pulls him into the living room. He has the urge to jump up and down in excitement, but keeps himself from doing so. Barely.

"Wow, buddy, you've been busy," Danno smiles.

Charlie pulls Danno's arm again. "Come see inside!" The fort is small but he's sure the two of them can squeeze in together. He finally lets go of Danno's hand and crawls under the blanket first, waiting anxiously for Danno to crawl in next to him.

"Let's see what we got here," Danno says as he works his way in next to him.

Charlie smiles proudly, even though there's not much to see. They're snuggled in next to each other, laying on their bellies and leaning up on their elbows, mirroring each other. There is no room to move, but he still thinks the fort is perfect.

He looks to see Danno's reaction, smile wavering as he sees that Danno is not looking at his fort. Instead Danno's head is hanging low, his eyes are closed, and he's breathing really fast.

"Danno?" Charlie asks, unsure of what is going on. Didn't Danno like his fort?

Danno doesn't answer him, and Charlie starts to worry that something is wrong. Danno keeps breathing funny and doesn't open his eyes, doesn't really acknowledge that he's even there.

Charlie quickly backs out of the fort, nearly tripping over his own feet as he runs down the hall. "Gracie!" He bolts into Gracie's room, skidding to a stop right next to her. "Gracie, I broke Danno!"

Gracie laughs, obviously not believing him. "Right."

"No, I broke him!" Charlie insists and grabs Gracie's hand and pulls. Thankfully, she doesn't start being silly like Danno had, and lets him pull her out of her seat. He takes her out into the hall, and he can tell she still doesn't believe him until they reach the living room.

"Dad?" Gracie asks.

Charlie lets go of Gracie's hand as she runs forward. He's suddenly rooted to the spot as he watches Gracie destroy his blanket fort in one quick motion. Danno is still where he left him, still breathing funny, and still looking not right.

"Dad?" Gracie asks again as she kneels down next to him. "Do I need to call an ambulance?"

Charlie hears Danno mumble something in response, and he thinks it's good that Danno was answering her, but he sounds out of sorts and all wrong. Broken, broken broken.

He broke Danno.

He's not entirely sure what he's doing, but he runs from the room, out the front door, and through the lawn. He knows he's not allowed to run off by himself, but doesn't want to see Danno like that anymore, and Gracie is probably mad at him for breaking her Danno, and he needs to get far away.

He keeps running, not knowing where he's going. He just runs. He's not sure how far or how long he goes, but he stops only once he gets too tired. He looks around and becomes even more scared when he realizes he doesn't have any idea where he is. He doesn't recognize anything. He doesn't even see any houses or buildings or streets. All he sees are trees and bushes and nature and unfamiliar things.

He knows running was a mistake. A big, big mistake. He wants to go back home, even if he's in trouble. But he doesn't know which way to go. He's lost. So very lost, and he went too far to find his way back. He sits down next to a tree and curls his legs up to his chest, trying not to cry, trying to be brave. He decides to stay where he is, so he doesn't get more lost. Surely, Danno or Gracie will come looking for him, and they will find him quicker if he stays put.

He finally starts to cry when he remembers that Danno is broken, and Gracie is mad at him. They weren't going to come for him. He was all alone. Lost and alone and scared and confused.

It's starting to get dark out, and the dark always makes everything even scarier. He shivers when the wind picks up. He's only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, no socks or shoes, and his feet hurt. He's tired, though, so he closes his eyes while he waits for no one to come for him.

He jolts awake when he hears a noise near him. It's completely dark now, sun gone down, but he sees a light nearby and hears footsteps crunching on the ground. He thinks maybe he should run again. He's not supposed to talk to strangers, but maybe they can help him. Maybe they can help him get un-lost. Or maybe they won't help at all. He scrunches his eyes shut as a flashlight shines in his face.

"Charlie?"

He's still not sure whether or not he should run. He opens his eyes again, when the light isn't shining directly in his face, and looks around wildly for an escape route.

"Charlie!"

Someone crouches down in front of him, and he realizes his option to run is probably long gone. There is no way he can move fast enough to get away, even if he wanted to. He flinches away from the stranger's hand when it reaches out to him.

"Hey, buddy, it's Uncle Steve. You're safe."

He relaxes when the voice connects with the name. He knows he must have been gone a long time if Uncle Steve is here looking for him. He shivers as he looks up at his uncle's worried face. Uncle Steve just smiles warmly at him, and he sets the flashlight down and removes his sweater. Charlie welcomes the warmth of the oversized piece of clothing as it's placed around him and zipped up.

Charlie just watches as Uncle Steve pulls out his phone, brings it to his ear, and waits a moment before speaking. "I've got him. He's okay... No, I'll bring him to your place." He puts his phone away and looks back at Charlie. "How about we get you home, buddy, huh?"

He lets Uncle Steve lift him up, and he can't help but wrap his arms tightly around his neck. He's only partially listening to the soft assurances being whispered in his ear as Uncle Steve carries him away from his lonely spot.

He's pretty sure he falls asleep again, because the next thing he knows, it's bright and they are entering the house. It doesn't take long before he's shifted from Uncle Steve's embrace into someone else's. He knows by the familiar smell that it's Danno, and he's squeezing him too tight and he can't breathe, and it hurts and feels so good all at once.

"God, Charlie, don't ever do that to me again!"

Danno eventually loosens his tight hold and lowers him to stand on the floor, putting him at arm's length, looking him over closely.

"Are you all right?" Danno asks.

But Charlie is too busy observing to answer. Danno still looks a little broken, but not quite like before. He's breathing normal now, but he still doesn't look right. He looks pale and tired and very, very upset.

"Charlie?"

Charlie blinks and finally nods. He looks away from Danno and discovers that there are too many people in the room. Uncle Steve is talking to two men in police uniforms by the door, thanking them for the help. Auntie Kono and Uncle Chin are there, too. And Gracie is standing in the corner, watching him warily.

The police officers leave, and then Auntie Kono and Uncle Chin are hugging him, too tight like Danno, and then Danno thanks them profusely before they follow the officers out the door.

He turns back and looks at Gracie again, and then she's running towards him. He thinks she's coming to yell or hurt him for what he did. Instead, she kneels down and hugs him like she's never going to let go. Too, too tight.

He just doesn't understand why everyone is hugging him, when they should be mad at him because he broke their Danno.

When Gracie finally lets go of him, he lets Danno pick him up again and take him to the bathroom. He sits him down on the toilet seat and reaches over to start running a bath. Danno starts to undress him, removing Uncle Steve's warm sweater first, and he shivers, but it isn't long before he finds himself in a warm bath. He sits still, watching the ripples in the water, as Danno washes off the dirt and grime from his venture outside.

Normally, baths are a long fare, Danno forcing him to get in when he doesn't want to bathe, and then forcing him out when he's having too much fun playing in the water. But tonight, he's in and out and in clean pajamas in record time. Instead of taking him to bed, though, Danno takes him out to the living room, and he's placed on the couch and wrapped up in a warm blanket that only leaves his feet exposed out in front of him. He wonders why, because they are cold too, but his question is answered when he sees a first aid kit in Uncle Steve's hands.

He forgot his feet had hurt. He shouldn't have gone running outside without shoes on.

Danno tries to take the kit from Uncle Steve, but he doesn't let him.

"Let me, Danny. You need to sit down, before you have another panic attack."

He sees that Danno's hands are all shaky, and that just makes him want to run away again, because Danno's still broken. But he can't, he's too constricted in the blanket to make any escape attempt. Instead, he looks around the room for Gracie, but she must be in her room, either gone to bed or too mad at him to be in the same room. Maybe both.

He startles as the couch dips next to him. Danno has listened to Uncle Steve, and sits right up against his side, arm wrapping around him. Too tight again, but it feels good all the same. He watches idly as Doctor Steve takes out supplies from the first aid kit and sits on the coffee table in front of him.

"This might sting a little bit, buddy, okay?"

Doctor Steve waits for him to nod before he starts putting something on the bottom of his feet. It does sting, a lot, and he knows he whimpers a little, and Danno's arm wraps even tighter around him. His feet are probably all scraped up, he's not even sure what he had all run on, but he knows it was dirty and rough and not good, and now he's paying for it.

The stinging slowly goes away, and Doctor Steve puts bandages on next and wraps up both his feet so the bandages stay in place. His feet feel better already, warmer too. He watches Doctor Steve clean up and put everything away. He closes his eyes, just for a moment, but when he jerks slightly and opens them again, Doctor Steve is gone.

"Hey, it's okay, buddy," Danno whispers next to him. "You can go to sleep."

Charlie doesn't want to sleep, but he's exhausted, so he closes his eyes and settles in against Danno.

When he wakes again, he's in his bed. It's still night out, he's sure, but he has no idea how long he's been asleep or if Danno is still awake. He doesn't want to move, because he's warm and cozy, but he's thirsty and needs water. He slowly gets out of bed, testing his bandaged feet experimentally on the floor. They don't hurt too bad, so he figures it's safe to walk on them.

He edges his way out into the hall and sees a light coming from the living room. He heads in that direction, and there is one lone lamp on, lighting everything up just enough to see that Danno isn't there. Instead, Uncle Steve is laying on the couch, sleeping under a spare blanket. He wonders what he's still doing here, since everyone else left a long time ago. Maybe he stayed to make sure he doesn't break Danno again.

He's not sure what to do. Danno must be sleeping in his room, and he doesn't want to disturb him, not tonight. He doesn't want to wake up Uncle Steve either, but he can't reach the cups by himself. There's Gracie, too, but he doesn't want to bug her either.

He finally decides on Uncle Steve since he is the closest. He makes his way over to the couch but pauses, unsure of how to wake him. Danno's a heavy sleeper, and he usually has to poke and prod several times before he wakes up. He's never woken Uncle Steve up before.

Uncle Steve is apparently a light sleeper, because all Charlie has to do is stand right in front of the couch and he's awake, blinking and looking around.

"Charlie, you okay?"

Charlie nods. "I'm thirsty."

"Okay."

Uncle Steve gets up from the couch, and Charlie follows him into the kitchen. It doesn't take long for a glass of water to appear in his hand, and he drinks the whole thing down greedily.

"Better?"

Charlie nods again, and Uncle Steve takes the empty glass from him.

"Ready to go back to bed, buddy?"

Charlie doesn't answer right away. He feels awake, but he knows it's the middle of the night.

Uncle Steve crouches down in front of him. "You wanna sit up with me for a bit?"

He follows Uncle Steve back to the living room. He's not sure where to sit. He likes the couch, but he doesn't want to disturb Uncle Steve's claimed bed for the night.

Uncle Steve doesn't seemed fazed and just picks him up and sits him on the couch next to him, and offers to share his blanket with him. Charlie is still so confused by everyone's kindness.

"Did you stay to make sure I don't break Danno again?" Charlie doesn't know why he asks the question, because he's afraid of the answer.

"No, Charlie. I stayed to help make sure you were all right, and then it got real late, so it was just easier to stay here."

Charlie fidgets with the blanket's edge. "Oh."

"And Danno's not broken. He's okay, and he's gonna explain everything in the morning, okay?"

Charlie's not sure exactly what that means, but he nods his head anyway. He knows he's going to be in a lot of trouble, but at least he's free until morning.

"Danno's okay?"

"Yeah, buddy. He's okay. I promise."

Charlie wakes, again in his bed, without remembering how he got there. It's starting to get light out now, but it's still really early. He gets out of bed anyway, and instead of heading to the living room, he goes towards Danno's room. The door is halfway open, so he peers inside. He sees a lump on the bed, so he pads up next to it.

Danno looks a lot more like Danno, even though he's sleeping, and he finally believes Uncle Steve was telling the truth when he said Danno was okay. He's so relieved that he jumps up on the bed, throwing himself on Danno, hugging him as best he can while practically laying on top of him. Danno's arms wrap around him, unusually quick for having just woke up, but Charlie sinks into the embrace anyway.

"Hey, hey, shh, it's okay."

He's crying again and getting Danno's shirt all wet, but Danno doesn't seem to care. He just rubs his back and keeps whispering to him and holding him too, too tight.

When he wakes again, he's surprised to still be in Danno's bed, and Danno is still there next to him. It's even brighter now, obviously later than they would normally sleep, but the house still seems quiet. Maybe everyone is sleeping in today.

He shifts his head up to look at Danno, surprised to see him looking right back.

"Hey, buddy," Danno greets. "Ready to get up yet?"

Charlie shakes his head and snuggles in closer to Danno's side. He's too cozy and not quite ready to face the day.

"That's okay. Me neither."

He doesn't fall asleep again, and he's sure Danno doesn't either, judging by the rubbing on his back. Eventually Danno breaks the silence.

"Charlie, I'm gonna try to explain what happened last night, all right? It might be a bit confusing, so if you have questions, don't be afraid to ask, okay?"

Charlie just nods, and tenses.

"Okay, first of all, relax, buddy. I can feel you tensing up, you're not in any trouble, okay?."

Charlie doesn't quite believe him. "'kay."

"The only thing you did wrong was running away. You know that was wrong, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I know you were scared, and I understand why you ran, but I need you to promise me you won't do that again, no matter how scared you are, all right. Even if you think you're in trouble, even if you think I'm mad, I will never be mad enough that I don't want you here, okay?"

Charlie nods again. "Sorry, Danno."

Danno sighs. "You really scared me, Charlie. Grace and I couldn't find you, so we called a bunch of people to help look for you."

"Uncle Steve found me," Charlie says even though Danno already knows this. "Is he still here?"

"Yeah, he came to check on you awhile ago, but you were sleeping... He told me about your visit during the night. Charlie, what happened wasn't your fault, okay? You didn't break me, or hurt me, or do anything to me."

"You sure?" Charlie asks.

"Yeah, bud, I'm sure." Danno pauses. "Last night... well, I don't really like small spaces, and sometimes when I'm in a small space, my brain thinks I'm in danger when I'm not, and I start to panic, and that's what happened last night."

"Why'd you go in if don't like small spaces?" Charlie is confused, because when he doesn't like something, he stays away from it.

"Well, you know how when you're really, really tired, and you get crabby or annoyed by the simplest little thing? Something that normally wouldn't bug you all that much?"

Charlie knows that feeling. "Uh huh."

"Well, it's kinda like that. I went in, because usually something like a blanket fort wouldn't bother me. But it's been a long week, and I was really tired, and I think that was catching up to me. Does that make sense?"

"I think so."

"You think so? That was a yes or no question, buddy."

Charlie sits up and looks at Danno, nodding firmly. "Yes," he enunciates purposefully, and Danno smiles.

"Good. Now, I think it's time we get out of bed. Steve and Grace have been up for a while already."

Charlie stills at the mention of Gracie. He's talked to Uncle Steve and now Danno, but he's still not sure if Gracie is mad.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

He's not sure if he should ask, but he does anyway. "Is Gracie mad at me?"

"No, she's not. She was just worried about you, too, okay?"

Charlie nods. Danno's probably right, but he'll know for sure once he sees Gracie for himself. He gets of the bed and heads out to the living room, Danno following behind. Uncle Steve and Gracie are sitting on the couch, and they both smile when they come in the room.

"On the couch, Charlie, I need to check your feet," Danno orders.

Charlie knows for sure that Gracie isn't mad when she pats the open space next to her. He climbs up and settles in as the first aid kit makes a reappearance. Danno sits down in front of him, but Charlie shakes his head.

"Doctor Steve, Danno," he says, as if it explains everything, well, because it does.

"Oh, I see how it is," Danno says, like he's mad, but Charlie knows he's just being silly again.

Charlie giggles as his legs are swung around over Gracie's lap, feet landing on Uncle Steve's lap next to her.

"Those stinky things are all yours, Doctor Steve," Danno says, handing over the first aid kit. "I'll go start breakfast. What time is it? Lunch? Doesn't matter. It's going to be pancakes."

Charlie continues to smile as Doctor Steve replaces the bandages on his feet, all the while sprawled across Gracie's lap. He knows by the look on Gracie's face that the moment Doctor Steve is done, he's going to be in real trouble. Gracie is going to tickle him, and he doesn't know if Uncle Steve will help save him or help Gracie hold him down. It doesn't matter, though. Either way, he'll shriek and scream for mercy, all the while wishing for more. More tickles. More hugs. More hugs that are too, too tight and all just right.


End file.
